


A White Envelope

by GodAndMonsters



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Falling In Love, Happy Ending, Love, Romance, swanqueen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-09-24
Packaged: 2019-07-01 14:25:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15775920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GodAndMonsters/pseuds/GodAndMonsters
Summary: Emma is a bartender who will do almost anything for a tip, Regina is a feminist business woman who just wants to get through a meeting without a flirtatious bartender.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I want to thank my beta loweze for helping so much with the plot and my grammar issues (:

 

“Jefferson, please,” Regina sighed and massaged her temples, the blond artist was really getting on her nerves today. “Just write another song.”

 

“But-“ He started again and Regina lifted one finger in warning. “No!” she said, “You are not leaving this studio until you have at least one song ready for me, now I really need to go.” She grabbed her bag and looked at her stupid assistant in warning. “Do not let him leave,” she ordered her and opened the room.

 

“I hate you!” she heard Jefferson called behind her. “They are all right you know! You really are the ‘Evil Queen.’ “

 

“I love you too, my star.” She called back and answered her phone with a roll of her eyes. “This new one better be worth it!” she growled at blonde on the other side.

 

“He is,” Kathryn promised. “Just remember what I told you, keep an open mind.”

 

“I promise nothing.” Regina declared. She was pissed about Jefferson childish behavior and she would much rather focus on completing his new album than chasing Kathryn’s new find.

 

“I’m telling you, we need to sign him.”

 

“That’s my decision to make, I just hope you are not wasting my evening.” she sighed and hung up her phone.

 

-

 

 

Regina walked into the filthy bar and rolled her eyes when she noticed the black-haired man singing on the small stage; she sat at the bar and listened to his rusty voice.

 

He was definitely Kathryn’s type; dark and handsome, but he lacked effortless talent, and had little stage presence. The audience at the bar was barely paying attention to him, chatting amongst themselves over their drinks.

 

“Can I get you anything?” the blonde bartender asked her and Regina answered without removing her eyes from the man on stage; “whiskey on the rocks.” 

 

“Coming up.” the blonde woman picked up a glass and poured her the drink, she slide it toward the brunette and Regina finally turned to look at her, she sipped her drink and asked; “What do you think about him?” She pointed at the singer and the blonde shrugged. “He is not bad,” she answered, drying another glass with a towel.

 

“Right.” Regina mumbled under her breath, he really was ‘not bad’, maybe even good but he was not what she was looking for, he was not an artist.

Regina could tell with just one look the man was nothing but a gimmick, he had no personality in his singing, no true emotion.

 

Regina filmed him with her phone and sent it to Kathryn.

 

 _‘He’s good!!_  Kathryn texted back and Regina typed angrily on the phone _._

 

_**‘I disagree!** _ **** _**He doesn’t represent what our company standing for and you know it!’** _

 

_‘He can easily sell, he is hot and he sings good enough.’_

 

_**‘I’m not looking for ‘good enough’.’** _

 

_‘Just give him a chance.’_

 

Regina just shut off her phone and swallowed the rest of her drink in one sip, feeling the burn in her throat she breathed through her nose, she was having a really annoying day by far, first fighting with her mother for talking with the press without permission, again, then Jefferson and his whiny attitude and now this worthless excuse of an artist is going to waste her time.

From the corner of her eye, she could see the blonde bartender pocketing a twenty dollar tip with a smile before cleaning the dirty counter with a towel, at least someone was having a better day than her she thought while moving the glass in a circular motion, watching as the ice cubes clashed.

“Hey” The voice woke her from her thoughts and she turned to look at the blonde woman. “Can I get you another drink?” She smiled politely at her and Regina’s eyes roamed over her face, she noticed the woman was rather beautiful with her green orbs, her blonde curls, and her porcelain skin.

“A red wine.” Regina answered after a few moments of silence and the blonde nodded and moved to fetch her a glass.

“Regina, right?” A man voice came from her side and Regina fixed her political smile as she turned; “Killian” she smiled at the artist and motioned for him to sit beside her.

 

“So,” the man smiled arrogantly at her “Did you like it?”

 

“It wasn’t bad,” she copied the blonde’s words and she swore she could hear a giggle from behind the counter.

“Can I get you  _anything_?” the blonde came back with her glass, her eyes fixed at the man beside and her tone suggested she was inviting him to choose from more than just the menu.

 

Regina felt her blood bubbling underneath her skin when Killian's eyes roamed over the blonde body, stalling on her breasts for a while before they finally landed on her eyes. “Rum, please. Appleton, if you’ve got it. Neat.”

 

“Good choice” the bartender answered pouring two glasses with the rum and downing one herself. She licked her lips before she reached her hand to the man; “Emma.”

 

“Killian.” The man answered and clasped their hands together.

 

“Call if you need me.” she winked at him before leaving to attend to other customers.

 

“So,” Regina tried to get the guy’s attention again but Killian just stared at Emma’s ass as she walked away. “Killian,” she said again and he finally turned to look at her.

 

For the rest of evening the annoying bartender just kept coming and flirting with the man whether it was clearing invisible dust from his shirt or winking at him from across the bar, Regina could barely get his full attention until finally, she dismissed him with the old saying of; ‘don’t call us, we will call you’.

 

Killian left a few dollars on the counter, not even covering his bill and took off angrily.

 

“What was that?” the blonde bartender said.

 

“You actually asked me that?” Regina asked dumbfounded and a little bit annoyed.

 

Emma just kept staring at her, waiting for any kind of explanation and Regina blew up “You’ve been flirting with him all evening long!”

 

“So?” Emma asked confused.

 

“So he spent the whole meeting staring at your ass, I couldn’t get anything out of him, not that it matters, I’m pretty sure he was a gimmick anyway.”

 

“Well I was only interested in his money,” Emma said while staring at the few dollars on the counter, “not that it worked apparently.”

 

“I guess it didn’t.” Regina huffed in annoyance; this girl actually thought he was the one with the money? She was the one wearing Louboutin heels and carrying a Prada purse.

 

“I’ll take another glass of wine please. Large.” Regina said and when she saw Emma’s helpless look when she counted the dollars she quickly added; “and I’ll cover his bill.”

 

“Thanks,” Emma smiled genuinely at her. “They would’ve made me take it out of my salary.”

 

“It’s ok.” Regina returned the small smile.

 

-

 

Emma was finishing yet another shift in the dreary bar, the last of the customers finally left and she put her hair in a messy bun as she locked the door behind them, and began cleaning the tables. It wasn’t when she swept the floor that she found it; a white envelope with her name scrawled across the front in elegant writing, a small gold ‘M’ logo on the right side of it. She opened it and her breath stuck in her throat, inside the envelope was $200 and a business card with the name; ‘Regina Mills’. Emma flipped the card and saw that a few words were scribbled there in black ink.

 

‘ _Looks like _you were flirting with the wrong person.’__

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while but in my defense life happened.

 

“Robin, Robin,” Regina sighed in frustration, she hasn’t managed to say one complete sentence since the call started.

 

“Robin!” She finally yelled at the man on the other side, and he was stunned enough to finally shut up. “Listen, I’m sorry about my mother mess-“

 

And he started rambling again, screaming about how her mother ruined his business with that interview.

 

“I have three artists who are threatening me with leaving!”

 

“Maybe you should know how to handle your artists.” She yelled back with arise in her tone, he was acting like a baby now. It’s funny really, a baby who begged her to have a baby.

 

“Don’t tell me how to handle my artists when you can’t even handle your mother!”

 

It was her turn to shut up. He was kind of right. Her mother made it a habit of her, running around talking to the press and leaking information.

 

“You better fix this!” He gritted before he hung up the phone on her.

 

“AHHH” she growled loudly, her hold on the phone was so tight that the screen almost shattered into tiny little shards. She walked into her office, ignoring Belle’s worried look as she slammed the door behind her.

 

“Your Majesty,” Jefferson smiled at her, completely oblivious to her mood, “I wrote a song,” a small giggle escaped his lips.

 

Unceremoniously falling onto her chair, Regina quirked one eyebrow at him, “You wrote a song?”

 

“I did,” he smiled, he sounded surprised, it’s been a year since he wrote a song that he was actually proud of. “It’s going to be a hit,” his eyes were glossy, his pupils dilated and Regina’s eyes roamed over his face for a long minute before she finally asked, “Are you high?” afraid of his answer she clasped her fists tightly.

 

He didn’t answer though, instead, he just shoved the piece of paper into Regina’s hand, “Read it.”

 

“You are,” her face went pale, she remembered his last fall, how they were forced to hospitalized him against his will, how he kicked and screamed all the way to the facility.

The rehab was a nightmare, for the first couple of months he refused to talk, to eat, to even sing.

It took him a year to be strong enough again, longer to come back to work again.

 

“Please read it,” he whispered before he rose up, leaving an exhausted Regina behind.

 

* * *

 

Small barefoot feet tiptoed down the hall, the five years old boy tried to stay silent, even in his young age, he understood his mother need of sleep.

 

He toddled into the room and climbed up the bed, trying not to wake his blonde mom as he crawled as close as possible to her sleeping figure, his head resting on her stomach and his legs spread haphazardly on the bed as he fell into Morpheus’s arms.

.

 

.

 

.

“Care to explain?” Ruby said to her the minute she walked into the kitchen.

 

“Coffee,” Emma mumbled, not even looking at her as she grabbed her mug.

 

“Emma! you have an envelope with two-hundred dollars and Regina Mills’s business card inside!”

 

“So?” Emma sighed, soaking in the warmth of the mug against her cold hands. “Do you know her?”

 

“Don’t you know her?” Ruby exclaimed, “You don’t know her, do you?”

 

When Emma shook her head Ruby ran to her laptop, the envelope tucked safely in her hands.Typing down the brunette’s name on the searching tab, she clicked on the first picture that popped on the screen, “Come here!” she demanded from the sleepy blonde who just sighed in response and walk heavily at her, making a point she was less than enthusiastic about it.

 

“Was it her?” the girl pointed at the photo on the screen, Regina was indeed there, with Jefferson- the most selling artist of the year.

 

“Yes,” Emma whispered, her mouth open with shock, “Is she a celebrity? a singer?”

 

“No,” Ruby chuckled “She is the mind, Emma, she is the best talent manager in the industry!, she discovered Zelena Green, Tinker Bell and Lost Boys, August Wayne and most importantly- she is the one behind the perfection called Jefferson Hatter!”

 

“Really? she must be-“

 

“Filthy rich!, she was ranked 40 on America's Richest Self-Made Women on Forbes”

 

“That bitch!” Emma suddenly yelled, her face flushed with anger and shame, the hot black liquid in her mug swirling from the shaking of her hands.

 

“Emma?” the brunette whispered, her eyes wide with confusion.

 

“I knew it! I knew there was a reason, she thinks she is better than me just because -“ the angry blonde kept talking, her voice grew louder and louder with every word that left her furious mouth.

 

“Calmed down!” Ruby interrupted her rambling with a low growl “You are going to wake Henry up”

 

“Can you find out where her office is?” she lowered herself down to the chair beside her geek friend.

 

“Sure, why?” she squinted her eyes at her, already smelling the trouble in the air.

 

“Just do it,” Emma ordered between her gritted teeth, she was a proud woman, and no one, not even Regina fucking Mills is going to mess up with her.

 

“Emma?”

 

 

“No one tips two-hundred dollars out of the goodness of their heart,” the blonde finally explained and Ruby just sighed dramatically, holding the green papers to her chest. “Ok,” she agreed, typing down frantically on her laptop, “But can you at least get me an autograph?”

 

“Just find it!”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Regina was working calmly in her office, trying her hardest to put the stress of the day behind her when she suddenly heard her assistant terrified voice from outside. She was about to go out and find exactly what is going on when the door burst open, revealing her useless assistance and a blonde woman.

 

“Excuse me,” she said harshly, her eyes moving back and forth between Belle’s scared figured and the blonde’s fumed one.

 

“Hey,” the blonde’s said as she entered farther into her office, putting a white envelope on her desk, “I think that belongs to you,” her dark green orbs sent daggers down her spine and Regina actually felt threatened.

 

“I tried-“ Belle stammered “She just-“

 

“It’s ok,” Regina faked a smile, she actually felt sorry for the young girl, Emma, (she now remembered that green-eyed girl name) managed to scare her too. “Leave us,” she commended and Belle ran out, eager to leave the room.

 

“What can I help you with?” the intimidated woman asked when the door closed, leaving the too proud women alone.

 

“I came here to bring you your money back.” she declared “I don’t need charity”

 

“It’s a tip, dear, It’s customary to leave one”

 

“Two-hundred dollars isn’t just a tip,” she seethed at her “It’s you trying to prove a point”

 

“Maybe,” Regina said, and she remembered how the blonde acted that night, how she served that man and assumed he was the ‘important’ one, how she assumed he was the one in power.

 

She was so tired of being looked down, she worked her ass off, become one of the richest women in the states, and still when she walked into business meetings, when she dine outside, they all just assumed the men with her are the one in charge, even when they are begging her to hire them.

 

“I knew it!” Emma exclaimed “Who do you think you are? you think you are better just because you are rich?”

 

“What?” Regina asked confused, this was not how she saw this conversation going.

 

“You think you are better with your fancy clothes and your bitchy attitude, I’m-“

 

“I did try to prove a point!” Regina stopped her, “But I don’t think you got it,”

 

“Oh, I got all right!” Emma screamed at her, her hands shaking with anger and her mind playing every scenario of not being good enough, every family that sent her back, every partner that broke up with her, every social worker who asked her to be better, to do better, to act better.

 

“I was the one wearing Louboutin heels and carrying a Prada purse, he was wearing a fake leather jacket and Nike shoes!”

 

“So?” Emma asked after a long minute, a part of her understanding suddenly that she was wrong, Regina wasn’t thinking she was less, she was thinking _he_ was less. She doesn’t know why it made her feel better.

 

“So you assumed he was the one with the money? Why because he was a man? Let me tell you something, I worked hard, build myself up from nothing and still every time I have a meeting with some guy people just _assume_ he is the powerful one, that _I_ need _him.”_

 

“I don’t understand,” Emma shook her head, trying to make sense of the woman words but they all blurred up inside her mind. She just didn’t see what she has done wrong.

 

“You were flirting with _him_!”

 

“That’s what it's all about? you wanted me to flirt with you?” the blonde screamed at her, but when she finally realized what came out of her mouth she smiled, It wasn’t about not being enough, it wasn’t about being rejected, it was about being wanted.

 

“Well, when you put it like that-“ Regina couldn’t help but think that the blonde was up to something, after all, Regina never left her card to other waitresses who assumed wrongly about her, she never tipped two-hundred dollars before just to prove a point. Maybe deep down she did wish the blonde would have flirted with her, maybe deep down she wished the blonde would track her down and call her on it.

 

“I can flirt with you” Emma took a few steps closer to the brunette, her eyes roaming over the brunette features, studying the way her breath hitch with every step she took, her plump red lips opening up a little to reveal a pink tongue and she licked her lower lip. Trying to make some sense inside her hazy, troubled mind. “You can?” it’s all that came out in the end, a question, she wasn’t even sure would feel with the answer.

 

“I can,” Emma answered without thinking, she had the woman right where she wanted her now, “Say tomorrow night?”

 

“Are you asking me out on a date?” The brunette smirked, how they ended up here, she will never know.

 

But looking into forest green eyes and blonde messy curls, she realized she didn’t really care.

 

“That depends” the blonde answer, a small grin gracing her thin pink lips.

 

“Oh” the brunette face blushed at that and she fixed some paper on her desk, placing them in a small messy pile while clearing her throat, she didn’t feel so out of power in a very long time, she hated to feel that way, but something about Emma was so enthralling that she put that feeling aside and asked “On what?”

 

“Do you want me to ask you out on a date?” she took another few steps, her legs nearly crashing with the desk now and she could smell Regina’s spicy perfume. It smelled dangerous and sweet, later she will learn just how much that scent suits the brunette.

 

“It depends” Regina deadpanned and it was Emma’s turn to lose her confidence, her face flushed with embarrassment and the fear of being rejected. “On what?” she mimicked Regina’s words.

 

“Do you want me to want you to ask me on a date?” she quirked one perfectly sculpted eyebrow at her.

 

“I do,” Emma confessed. Putting an end to both of their games.

 

“I do too.” Regina smiled brightly at her.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you think (: , BTW if you are interested I'm godandmonsteres1996 on tumblr


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